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Land of Milk and Honey

June 15, 2006

When God chose to describe to the children of Israel the Promised Land he did so by saying, "...a land flowing with milk and honey" (Ex 3:8).
When God chose to describe to the children of Israel the perfect land he was going to give to his people for an inheritance, he did so by saying, “And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8). When the spies came back with word of the land that God had sent them to claim, they described it by saying, “And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it” (Numbers 13:27).
When Moses began to give God’s people the daily laws of the land, he did so by reminding them of God’s judgment for breaking the law and then of God’s blessings upon keeping his laws: “And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey” (Deuteronomy 26:9).
A strange and beautiful prophecy tells us that the very act of eating butter and honey gives moral strength. It is a prophecy concerning Jesus. “Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good” (Isaiah 7:15).
My great-grandparents enjoyed cornbread in homemade buttermilk as their evening meal almost every day of their life. They rounded out their breakfast with biscuits, butter, and honey. In spite of the hard labor and lack of available modern miracle drugs, my great-grandfather lived to be 99. He scandalized the family when he was 96 because he wanted to marry his housekeeper (Great-Grandma had died 3 years earlier). He either had amazing genes or was doing something right in his lifestyle.
Fermented milk products like yogurt, kefir, and buttermilk are said to be the significant contributing factor of longevity in countries like Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey. Over 15% of the population in Bulgaria live to be over 100 years of age!
It is important to know that more than 60% of fatal diseases in the USA are related to the gastrointestinal tract (GI). A steady diet of naturally fermented dairy products protects the GI from these diseases.
Conversely, homogenization of dairy products is linked to an impressive range of diseases: from autism, to irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue, and heart disease. Homogenization is the process in which the cream particles in milk are broken down and separated so that they will not rise to the top or lump together in the milk. The problem lies in the fact that the fat particles are broken down to be so tiny and “sharp” that they can now penetrate through the walls of your intestines and get into your bloodstream. This results in the laceration of your arteries, cholesterol build-up, and “leaky bowel syndrome” type of symptoms. Milk can be your best friend or your worst enemy.
In ancient times in Middle Eastern countries, dairy products were usually derived from goats. Fermented goat milk in the form of yogurt or kefir is the single, most powerful food therapy for the GI tract.
Here is an amazing story from Tissue Cleansing Through Bowel Management by Bernard Jensen, D.C. Ph.D, Nutritionist:
“John Harvey Kellogg performed an amazing experiment demonstrating this fact. He immersed a one-pound piece of raw meat, slightly tainted, in buttermilk. The milk was changed at regular intervals. The meat remained perfectly free of decomposition for some 20 years!!! This demonstrates the efficiency of an acid medium for inhibiting decay-producing, putrefactive bacteria. Soured milk is also called turned, fermented, curdled and clabbered milk. The Bulgarians call it yogurt; the Turks call it kefir; and the Russians call it matzone.”
This is what fermented milk can do for your stomach: inhibit putrefactive bacteria! Not being a real fan of the goat flavor, I prefer to take my fermented goat kefir in capsule form as Tummy Tune-Up8 (see details at end of article).
Fermented dairy products are the most basic and natural form of probiotics. Probiotics are available encapsulated or powdered. I think of probiotics as being the opposite of antibiotics. Antibiotics kill all the bacteria in your GI tract―the good and the bad. Probiotics replenish your GI tract with good bacteria.
This year, when our whole family got a 7-day stomach flu, I sprinkled powdered Tummy Tune-Up8 Original Blend probiotics on their food at each meal. It is tasteless, but just as powerful as eating kefir or yogurt, and the effects of the flu were completely negated. I kept thinking we must be over the flu now, but when I stopped giving us all the Tummy Tune-Up8, we became ill again, and the vomiting would start all over.
I recently heard from two different mothers who suffered from severe morning sickness; they claimed that taking probiotics cleared up their nausea. A few others said that probiotics sprinkled in their baby’s milk bottle, or just on the breast before nursing, cleared up colic and either upset tummies or tummy aches.
Easy Yogurt at Home, by Maria
Heat one quart milk to 180°F stirring frequently (you don’t have to heat the milk, but it makes for a thicker yogurt).
Cool the milk to 110°F.
Set aside a small portion of milk and add one tablespoon of yogurt. Mix very well and pour back into remaining milk. Too much starter will result in a sour, watery yogurt.
Pour into a quart-size canning jar, and screw the lid on very tight.
Place canning jar in a preheated insulated cooler (I use a small insulated water jug) and fill with warm water. I like to wrap the container in towels to help keep it warm.
Check the yogurt in 8-12 hours. If it isn’t thick, add more warm water to the jug and let set 4-8 more hours. You can also add more starter if it doesn’t set up. Save some yogurt for your next batch. As your starter gets stronger, the yogurt takes a little less time to “set.”
I used this recipe for years but just recently received a Yogourmet yogurt maker for my birthday. I like the fact that I can now make a half gallon at a time.
Happy yogurt making! Maria.
Milk Kefir, by Dominic Anfiteatro
INGREDIENTS AND UTENSILS
For culturing 1 to 2 cups of kefir:
• 1 to 2 tablespoons of kefir grains. (Purchase online or at your health food store.)
• 3 to 4-cup glass jar with lid (qt jar).
• Nylon or stainless steel strainer and spoon.
• A suitable container with wide mouth for straining the kefir into.
• 1 to 2 cups of fresh milk (Most milktypes are acceptable, including whole milk, fat-reduced, non-fat, pasteurized and homogenized. However, I personally prefer and enjoy fresh, certified bio-dynamic whole cow’s milk or goat’s milk to culture kefir).
THE COMMON METHOD FOR CULTURING MILK-KEFIR
• Pour fresh kefir grains into a glass jar, and fill the jar ¾ full with fresh milk. (Do not fill any fermenting jar more than ⅔ - ¾ full.)
• Place a loose fitting lid on the jar and let it sit at room temperature out of direct sunlight for about 24 hours, or until the milk has coagulated or has become sour.
• Pour the contents into a strainer, and strain the kefir into a suitable container to separate the grains from the liquid-kefir. The strained liquid is kefir ready for consumption.
• Wash the jar, then place the kefir grains left in the strainer back into the pre-washed jar.
Note: To avoid damaging kefir grains, never add kefir grains to a hot jar after washing the jar with hot water! In this case, it’s best to pour cold milk into the jar first, before adding any kefir grains.
This simple process is repeated for each succeeding batch. Many great kefir recipes and ingredients are available at this link:
http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~dna/Makekefir.html
A few good books to read on gastrointestinal health are, The Maker’s Diet, by Jordan Rubin; a strange, but useful, book is, The Cure for All Diseases by Dr. Hulda Clark; and a gross, but detailed book, Tissue Cleansing through Bowel Management by Bernard Jensen, Ph.D., Nutritionist. These books can be found in most libraries, at www.amazon.com, or at your local bookstore. NGJ does not sell these books.
Tummy Tune-Up probiotics, levels 6, 8, and 12+ strength are available at www.beeyoutiful.com/probiotics or write to Beeyoutiful, 4056 Montreal Loop NE, Rio Rancho NM 87144. More information on probiotics, dairy products, and general health are discussed daily on http://WellTellMe.com by Rebekah and other NGJ readers.
Rebekah (Pearl) Anast

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5 comments on “Land of Milk and Honey”

  1. kefir is very good I recomend it if you do not like it plain as many do not I food process frozen berries and bannas and stir it in the kefir with a little succanant or raw sugar my kids beg for it. I stopped drinking for aprox3 months and when i started my grains againmy body craved it so much i was drinking it plain and craving it my body needed it so the strong taste ment nothing well loved by my family well worth the time in caring for the grains

  2. I have a milk allergy and I use water kefir and almond milk yogurt as probiotics. Both are homemade. There is plenty of info on the internet to get you started. Almond yogurt usually needs to be dripped after being cultured to make it thicker like yogurt.

  3. "Conversely, homogenization of dairy products is linked to an impressive range of diseases: from autism, to irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue, and heart disease."

    Where is the scientific evidence for this? I myself, having a disease on the autistic spectrum, have, in all my years of learning about my disease, never heard such a claim.